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2009

BY LÉO CHARBONNEAU | March 09 2009

He was one of the world’s first computer-game sensations, yet this “screen capture” of the Nintendo mascot Super Mario is decidedly low-tech: the 3’ x 4’ image was created using 17,000 pushpins by students filling in time between classes at the University of the Fraser Valley’s Student Computing Centre. “We decided on Mario because he […]

BY DANIEL MCCABE | March 09 2009

In the wake of the most devastating economic crisis in generations, how is the failure of prevailing economic models transforming economists’ research agendas? University Affairs asked a number of Canada’s leading economic thinkers

BY TIM JOHNSON | March 09 2009

Tips and advice on choosing the right teaching with technology conference this year – and how to get the most out of it

BY JEFF DAVIS | March 09 2009

An agricultural researcher who studied at UBC puts his knowledge to work as the new governor of Kandahar province

BY ADAM CHAPNICK | March 09 2009

Straightforward advice for job candidates in search of a professorial recommendation

BY LÉO CHARBONNEAU | February 23 2009

Iraqi students and faculty from the University of Basra prepare for a field survey of the marshes in the spring of 2008. As a Canadian project to help restore the fabled Iraqi marshes winds down, the project’s director is optimistic about the future of this culturally and ecologically important region. Barry Warner, a specialist in […]

BY DANIEL DROLET | February 23 2009

Some who moved north in Bush presidency have no plans to return

BY LEON TRAKMAN | February 09 2009

Canadian universities could benefit if they boost efforts to recruit
international students, who want quality for fair cost

BY LÉO CHARBONNEAU | February 09 2009

What’s this? Kristine Spence of facilities management at the University of Saskatchewan is feeding used fluorescent light bulbs into the “bulb eater.” The machine instantly crushes the glass tube and reportedly sucks up 99.9 percent of the mercury and phosphorous inside, which is then re-used for the production of new bulbs. According to Environment Canada, […]

BY PEGGY BERKOWITZ | February 09 2009

Infrastructure spending welcome but research story less rosy

BY JULIA KENT | February 09 2009

The tragic tale of Aurore Gagnon, a 10-year-old girl from Quebec who is thought to have died from family violence in 1920, continues “to haunt the cultural memory of Quebec,” says John Lutz, a history professor at the University of Victoria and co-director of the website Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History. Launched in 1997 […]

BY LÉO CHARBONNEAU | February 09 2009

To a medical student, a patient represents not just a potential diagnosis but a learning opportunity. To show their appreciation, the medical students at McMaster University decided to design a card that they could give out to patients “to let them know how important and valued their role is in our education,” says student Tiffaney […]

BY HARRIET EISENKRAFT | February 09 2009

Eleven Ontario universities are going back to school, or at least into the laboratory of higher learning, in an effort to improve undergraduate student engagement. The project was launched by the Higher Educational Quality Council of Ontario, an arm’s-length research agency of Ontario’s Ministry of Colleges, Training and Universities. The project encompasses 13 experiments in […]

BY MARK CARDWELL | February 09 2009

New technology developed at U de Sherbrooke will give cell phones FM-radio sound quality

BY LÉO CHARBONNEAU | February 09 2009

The Bologna process will have far-reaching effects on European higher
education, but its impact on Canada is still unclear

BY JULIA KENT | February 09 2009

A group of medical students at the University of Alberta is promoting a simple solution to improving access to clean water in Africa: a ceramic filter in the form of a clay pot. Water is poured into the pot and when it seeps out the other side it is free 
of harmful pathogens. The key […]

BY DAVID KAUFMAN + LOUISE SAUVE | February 09 2009

Our commitment to conduct a research network in two languages faced 
some predictable challenges – and offered some surprising rewards

BY ANNE MULLENS | February 09 2009

Angus McLaren spent a career discovering what 
people thought about sex through the ages

BY DANIEL DROLET | February 09 2009

Atlantic universities learn a lot about wooing applicants as their local supply of 18 to 24-year-olds starts to dry up. Are there lessons here for other regions?

BY NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY | January 26 2009

Granting council amendments to Canada’s policy on research conduct respond to concerns from social science community